Shrovetide
Lauterbach before the Stockach Fools’ Court
Karl Lauterbach with a dunce’s cap. He is an innocent from the country, says the Federal Minister of Health. photo
© Felix Kästle/dpa
The Fools’ Court is a highlight of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival. This time the Federal Minister of Health is being targeted – and the foolish accusation is tough.
Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (60) has to deliver 240 liters of penalty wine and 240 liters of mineral water to the traditional one Fools’ Court in Stockach (Konstanz district). “But please not as a spritzer,” said the carnival judge. The foolish court found the SPD politician guilty on all charges. Lauterbach’s predecessor Jens Spahn (CDU), who was not at the event, should finance a third of the penalty.
The court of fools also sentenced the doctor Lauterbach to distribute chocolate ice cream in the local hospital in the summer and to recruit ten new members for the hospital support association. During the hearing, the minister had previously been accused of, among other things, imposture and scaremongering during the corona pandemic. On the evening talk shows he was “Little Karl everywhere”. He created the appearance of universal competence: “from virology to astrology.” He is the “Master of Disaster”.
The defendant pleaded not guilty. “You got the wrong guy,” said Lauterbach. He is an innocent from the country. “The only things we’re piling up in the traffic lights are unresolved problems.” But it’s not him who needs to be prosecuted, “but rather the opposition leader in the government: Christian Lindner.”
The Stockach Fools’ Court, which is more than 600 years old, is one of the highlights of the Swabian-Alemannic carnival in the southwest. Franz Josef Strauß (CSU), Guido Westerwelle (FDP) and Angela Merkel (CDU) were already in the dock of the institution.